Does the New "This Is NPR" Voice Have Vocal Fry? Judge For Yourself.

Does the New "This Is NPR" Voice Have Vocal Fry? Judge For Yourself.

NPR introduced listeners yesterday to Sabrina Farhi, the woman who beginning next month will be the one delivering such familiar lines as "Support for NPR comes from…" and (the even more well-known) "This [pause] is NPR." You can hear her introduce herself below. Almost immediately after the clip was sent around the Slate office the debate began: Does the new voice of NPR have vocal fry?! Let us know your thoughts in the comments or on Twitter.

For those of you who need a refresher, Slate's own Lexicon Valley describes vocal fry "as a kind of speech affect that sounds like staccato bursts from the back of the throat," something that "is especially prevalent among young American women." For more, check out their creaky voice-themed podcast below: